Are the Minnesota Wild Playing Dirty Against the Colorado Avalanche?

After watching the first two games of the the opening round playoff series between the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche, there was no question who the quicker/more athletic team was. It was clearly the Avs. Game 3 was a different story though and it seemed as though at least a little of that was a result of the Wilds aggressive play.

I get that I am a homer, and I am always going to error on the side of the home team, but to me last night was ridiculous. Hockey is a physical game, but there were at least 3 incidents that I thought were over the top. Most notably Wild forward Matt Cooke kneeing Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie who will now miss 4-6 weeks with a medial collateral ligament sprain in his left knee. Meaning the injury will likely end his season unless Colorado makes it beyond the Western Conference semifinals.

All 3 plays in question can be seen in the below highlight from ESPN...